5 keepers
keeper avg .500
Looks like I've missed a few Bob Mould solo albums, but if you've heard a few (or came of age with either Husker Du or Sugar) you mostly know what to expect. It was appropriate that when Mould toured "Silver Age," his tenth solo album, he also celebrated the 20th anniversary of "Copper Blue" by performing that entire album, because "Silver Age" sounds like where Sugar left off. All the tracks share the upbeat pacing, plentiful hooks, and intensity of that particular incarnation of Mould's solo career; especially strong analogues to Sugar include "The Descent," which strongly resembles "Changes" and the stomping "Steam of Hercules," which sounds like "Man on the Moon" but with heavier guitars.
Maybe depending on how you feel about Mould's solo career in general this obvious point of reference can be good or bad. But Mould isn't mellowing out, settling into any groove, or riding his elder statesman status. The warp speed "Briefest Moment" is his fiercest song since Husker Du, and "Fugue State"**** builds tension to be exploded in the choruses, both driven by Jon Wurster's pummeling tom rhythms. Neither "Star Machine"**** nor "The Descent"**** break a lot of new ground musically but their riffs and melodies are good enough to take me back to Mould's pop-punk 90's peak, while "Silver Age" and "Round The City Square" change gears with an anxious tone. The album even ends very strong, with the exuberant, blazing "Keep Believing"**** and "First Time Joy"****, building from tentative verses to most arena rock chorus I've heard from Mould.
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